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GameCentral readers offer their advice on how to turnaround Nintendo’s fortunes and what to do about the failure of the Wii U.

Nintendo has never been in a worse position than they are right now, with their recent sales results showing that the Wii U is still a flop and the 3DS has endured a considerable drop in sales from the DS. So for this weekend’s Hot Topic we asked how you would fix things, if you were in charge.

Love them or hate them no subject fills our inbox faster than Nintendo and we had a flood of emails for this week’s Hot Topic, and so many Reader’s Features we’ve had to organise a Nintendo-only weekend of them. There was even some consensus amongst the various suggestions, not necessarily about the fate of the Wii U but that Nintendo needs to diversify its games line-up and get third parties back on board – even if it has to buy them outright to do so.

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Unpalatable future
If I was in charge of Nintendo I’d write the Wii U off, it’s never going to be able to compete with PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and begin development immediately on a brand new home console, if they haven’t already. It would be more powerful than the recently released machines, have an internal hard drive, a traditional controller but with a radical new design – if that’s not a contradiction – and get it in the shops by Christmas 2015 for a maximum of £300. Despite their recent woes I believe they’ve got the reserves to do all this.

I’d also switch the new Zelda game that’s supposed to be in development to the new machine and make sure it was a launch game, preferably in a bundle. I’d also task the talented developers at Nintendo with coming up with all new IPs and stop being so reliant on endless Mario games. Finally, I’d completely change the way they work with third party developers, they need their support, and fully embrace online and social gaming – it’s the future whether you like it or not.dyniner(PSN ID)

Buy everything
If I ruled Nintendo I’d make the Wii U the new PlayStation 2, i.e. I’d turn a failure into this generation’s slightly underpowered but most popular console. How? By creating an unmissable software catalogue.

If Nintendo bought lots of developers and publishers and made every popular franchise Wii U-only people would have a reason to buy the machine.
You want the next Grand Theft Auto? Now I’m in charge it’s only on Wii U. Want new Burnout and Need For Speed games? Better get a Wii U now MSV’s Nintendo also owns EA. And Nintendo owns the rights to Hitman, Tomb Raider, and Final Fantasy ‘cos we bought Square Enix too.

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Name a popular series, MSV Nintendo are bringing it exclusively to you, only on Wii U. No microtransactions guaranteed.

And Wii U’s getting the motion controlled Star Wars lightsabre game everyone wanted for years, and a Han Solo simulator because of course MSV’s Nintendo now owns EA, and EA has the Star Wars licence.

Only one bit of bad news, Nintendo’s new boss has sacked Mario, and removed all trace of that annoyingly gaming relic from the building.msv858 (Twitter)

Two-in-one
If I were in charge of Nintendo I would be dropping the Wii U and 3DS in favour of a handheld that can stream data to and from an inconspicuous console like the PS Vita TV. The console hub would do the donkey work whilst you are gaming in the house, hosting local multiplayer sessions for when your friends bring their handhelds, and then outputting all the action onto your TV.

Or gaming on the move, you could download a number of games from the console and it would function just like a classic Nintendo handheld.Scooby Doo

Nintendo Ultra
I was a launch day adopter of the Wii U. I still own it but it doesn’t get played as much as it should. I’m looking forward to Mario Kart 8 and possibly Donkey Kong Country: Tropicial Freeze, and most of all Zelda. I’m no fanboy though as I also have a PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4.

Things have not been easy for Nintendo and companies like EA (who I’m still boycotting on any platform) do not help. There may well be a tit-for-tat thing going on between the two companies but it’s something that both parties should be working hard to resolve.

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In any case, we are where we are so I have some suggestions on where they could go:

Buy up some more developers. Are Rare available? What about EA? What about a merge with Sony games? Sony produced hardware with Nintendo games sounds like perfection to me. Capcom? Sega? Not sure of the values of some of these but worth a thought.

Collaborate with an existing smartphone developer to bring out a Nintendo Android or Nintendo Apple smartphone. A slide out real controller pad would do the job for me and with compatibility with existing Android/iOS as well as the exclusive Nintendo titles would be a must buy for me.

Start to think about a 3DS successor and make it a quality product like the PS Vita and less toy-like. Stick with the Wii U for now and bundle games in and have promotions and price drops where possible. Buying up developers may help the exclusive titles but keep the quality up. Mario, Zelda, Mario Kart, etc. are all second-to-none in terms of quality, fun and playability.

Zoom forward a couple of years and then think about a Wii U replacement. Make it fully backwardly compatible with the Wii U but for goodness sake call it something new. Nintendo Ultra. Anything, basically, would have been a better choice as some people still believe that the GamePad is some sort of Wii add-on. D’oh!

As for the new machine, it should be clearly more powerful than the PlayStation 4/Xbox One and it should have things which Nintendo don’t much care about but other people do. It should be backwardly compatible with Wii U natively (and not via some rubbish Wii U mode like they’ve done with the Wii on the Wii U). GamePad is great. Make a higher-res version and also the ability to connect directly or via Wi-Fi to your Nintendo Ultra. Get Blu-ray playback in there. Get an Ethernet port in there (wireless is pants). Get some USB 3.0 ports in there.

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External hard drive idea is good but it should be USB 3.0. Maybe have the ability to replace an internal hard drive instead like on the PlayStation 3/PlayStation 4 would be good. Get an optical audio out in there. I believe (some will disagree) that these things are important. They are to me. All part of moving away from a toy into a serious machine that will be seen as attractive to the third parties and also illustrate the expertise of Nintendo that make them one of the best developers in the world.Steve
PS: I forgot to add that the Wii U and the 3DS desperately need proper accounts where the games are tied to the account and not the machine. Plus allow the games to be played on three or four 3DSes.

To do list
If I was in charge at Nintendo I’d do several things. Firstly more marketing, possibly rebranding the Wii U and calling it the Super Wii or Wii 2 and advertise its unique controller and exclusive games lots and lots.

Secondly, more games. I’d use the huge cash reserves and try to buy developers like Platinum, Capcom, and Konami. If they couldn’t be bought I’d pay them for exclusives titles for the Wii U such as Metal Gear Solid, Devil May Cry, and a good Resident Evil game that made good use of the GamePad.

I’d give Sega a load of cash and ask them to make Wii U exclusive sequels to Shenmue and Skies Of Arcadia. I’d re-release GameCube and Wii games on the eShop and sort out the online system, games would be linked to accounts instead of consoles and I’d have a subscription service where subscribers got free and discounted Nintendo games.
As I’ve said in my previous email, HD updates of classic Nintendo games Metroid, Star Fox, and F-Zero, release dates for this year’s big exclusives. I’d re-release the two Super Mario Galaxy games in HD and also do a bundle with the Mario-themed wiimote.

I don’t think the Wii U needs to be more powerful, it just needs better marketing and games that will make it a must have for mature hardcore gamers.wasimr34

The best policy
I’m sure you’ll get lots of sensible suggestions about major core Nintendo franchises returning or being rebooted or, better still, something completely new from their talented developers. On top of that, I’d expect calls for a Wii U price cut, some good bundles and even demands for the console to be abandoned altogether in favour of focusing on the wonderful 3DS.

The one thing I’d add to all of those arguments, though is this: no matter what Nintendo does to react and no matter how it chooses to reform, it simply has to be done with sincerity, openness and strong resolve. One of the main lessons they should take away from all of this is never to do things by halves. If there’s any indication whatsoever that they’re taking baby steps to fix things, that just won’t cut it.

Just as importantly, they need to shout about their new plans from the highest rooftops. It’s no use keeping things under wraps for fear that they might be ripped off. Guess what: all their best ideas get ripped off anyway, regardless of when they’re made public. How beneficial has a good head start really been in recent times? There just seems so little to gain from being secretive but so much to lose, not least the faith of the most loyal of fans.

Since we’re talking about communication, it’s also crucial that Nintendo pinpoint and acknowledge their biggest mistakes. If they simply blame external factors or vaguely admit that they could’ve done certain things better, then I’d have very little confidence in their ability to recover. People can get excited about big changes coming, but that excitement is only warranted if it involves Nintendo admitting it got things very wrong while openly and accurately identifying what those things were.

In short, so much of what has gone wrong is down to Nintendo’s infamous conservatism. If they maintain the status quo in terms of actions and communication, then that to me isn’t the reform the company so desperately needs. And, crucially, they can’t afford to wait until E3 to make their move.Panda

No gimmicks
Nintendo seem to be more interested in innovating the way their games are played rather than the games themselves. Sure the Wii sold by the bucket load but how many, like me, quickly became tired of the motion controls. Other than the superlative Galaxy games I just wanted to use a controller.

Why not just go back to basics. Release a simple, non-gimmicky console? One that is deserving of the technology that is currently available. Bring out some quality, innovative games with new IPs, unless of course they have forgotten how to do that as they have rested on their laurels for a long time. If they could do that then surely the lost third party support would return.

It would be nice, as they’ve planted the seed, to sort out their online library. Give us the back catalogue that Nintendo’s gaming history deserves along with the excellent arcade games that are available now. Having said that the current debacle that is how they deal with digital purchases needs to be changed.DevilRed79 (PSN ID/NN ID/Steam ID)

The Nintendo
First of all I’d like to start by saying that the Wii U is a great console. I bought one just after Xmas, having decided not to buy the PlayStation or Xbox as the games line-up isn’t getting me excited just yet. I’ve also got a huge backlog to get through but that is another story!

One thing about the Nintendo is that you can convince yourself (and others!) that you aren’t just buying it for yourself! (Try that with the others!) The whole family can get some usage out of it: the wife likes Wii Fit, which still works on the new console (as do all the accessories); the younger kids who visit us will enjoy it; and I get to play on games that I want to play but maybe wouldn’t admit to friends!

The GamePad adds a new dimension to what you can do and I really hope developers get on board with it. ZombiU is a great example of how it can be used to compliment a game, and Mario shows that you can not only continue playing even while the wife is watching the soaps. But you can get her to help you out if you get stuck with the boost mode.

I’ve also noticed that everyone who plays the Nintendo is smiling afterwards, which is a rare occasion on the PlayStation or Xbox. Maybe constantly stabbing people in the face isn’t all its cracked up to be… so why then is it failing I hear you ask?!

In my opinion there are two big reasons(and plenty of smaller ones which others have mentioned). First off: customer base.

Appeal to the right people. The Wii showed that Nintendo has the largest customer base out there. Xbox and PlayStation actually only appeal to a small age group of approx. 13-28 years. Yes, there are people outside that age range that play them (I am one of them at 32) but my point is it’s limited. The Wii managed to widen that range to 3-75 years. They already have the younger market sowed up. The middle age bracket is the most competitive due to the competition. Here they just need to encourage multiplatform developers to bring their content on to Wii U.

The graphics don’t matter. In September last year I heard very few complaints about the terrible graphics on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and the Wii U is more powerful than both. In all honesty I’ve heard very few conversations about how much better the PlayStation 4 and Xbone actually are… what does annoy though is if you can’t buy a blockbuster game because it hasn’t been released on your format. This happens so often on the Nintendo that it becomes a turn off.

That leaves the final bracket. Many of the Wii customers were 50+ years olds who had never owned a console before. The problem Nintendo faces is that this is a generation who ‘don’t fix it unless its broke’. Why would they rush out to spend £250 on a new console that, as far as they can see, doesn’t benefit them in any way? Answer… they wouldn’t, and they haven’t.

Here is one example of how to rectify this issue (I have plenty of others I could mention): a golf trainer. Call it Wii U Golf Trainer, use the mechanics system (with a few tweaks) that you already had in Wii Fit Plus as it’s quite accurate anyway. Maybe add in the GamePad placed behind you, so the webcam can trace your movements and show you a video of your swing afterwards and then market it as the best way to improve your game. Add it into a new console bundle for your £250 – it will sell like cakes! Later on they can/will buy Mario, etc. for the grandkids. The point is they have a reason to buy it for themselves.

Second: marketing.

Yes, biggest budget is usually best and I get that Nintendo can’t just go and spend silly amounts like the others do. (Not because they can’t afford to, but because it goes against their values). However, you need to give the retailers good enough reason to get behind your product. Walk into any supermarket and you will see the Wii U section is tiny. In fact, you could say the same of walking into a GAME store. Nintendo need to put their efforts into negotiating with the retailers to get more space. Granted they may not actually need the space at the moment, but if you are buying into a platform, you aren’t going to go for the one that looks like a sinking ship.

Your advertising also needs to appeal to your target market. The Wii did this very well. There were adverts for kids (Mario, etc.) and older age groups in equal measure. (Mainly around Wii Fit, granted, but it worked oh so well). So far for Wii U I’ve only seen adverts aimed at the kids. An advert on the TV for ZombiU would maybe even give that middle age range a reason to look again at the U…

Finally, shout about the point of difference! The GamePad adds new possibilities. Remote Play, additional features like video calling, TV/Skybox control, Internet surfing (even while somebody else is watch the TV). Netflix and Lovefilm. Since buying the Wii U my wife will tell you that I never put that GamePad down!

I’m not going to lie, Wii U was not even on my list of things I wanted. I bought it because I was bored and the thought of spending big money on a PlayStation 4 or Xbone isn’t appealing to me until there are some more games. But now every time I pick up that pad I discover something else new and interesting. I find myself wanting to play games, just because they are inventive and fun, not because now there is a new way to kill someone. Even my wife is starting to fight me for who gets to play with it. That never happens on my PlayStation 3. It’s a shame Nintendo couldn’t find a way to tell me all this as maybe I and may other people would have already bought one!Andy s

Calculated risk
I wrote a long letter a few months back which GC kindly published as a Reader’s Feature, in which I defended the Wii U as a system that can be used to play thoroughly entertaining games. So it saddens me to see that it’s still in the doldrums. So how would I reverse Nintendo’s fortunes? Nintendo have created a problem with the Wii U name, as many have assumed it is an add-on to the existing Wii. I’ve seen some people call for a re-brand of the console, but I think in practical terms that would be just as confusing. I’ve also seen rumours of fast-tracking new hardware, which would only upset those who’ve taken the punt on the Wii U, those who we can assume are Nintendo’s loyal fanbase… so unless Wii U owners get a free upgrade to this new hardware this is a bad idea that I’m not going to entertain.
Instead I think Nintendo need to aggressively pursue the people who aren’t buying the consoles:

Firstly Nintendo need a presence in every shopping centre, train station and retail park that will have them, and anywhere else where a lot of people visit. Set up banks of Wii Us and drag people in to play them. Target parents with children, have them play Nintendo Land whilst spectators watch on big screens (including the GamePad, it must be possible) I firmly believe when people see how asymmetrical local multiplayer actually works they’d love it. Nintendo trained a lot of non-gamers how to play games on the Wii remote, given the chance this technique should now pay dividends as they can pick up the (barely) more complicated controls.

Have several Wii Us set up and connected together so that people can play Mario Kart 8 as they would online (possibly the only unit shifter Nintendo can rely on at this point). Film people playing these games and the inevitable fun they’ll have and use these in adverts to show how everyone else what their missing. Run advertisements all of the time focusing on what the Wii U can do that the other consoles can’t or won’t do. I can’t stress how many people don’t even know the Wii U exists or what it does, and until everyone does it will continue to be ignored, and as such games like Lego City Undercover, Pikmin 3, and even Super Mario 3D World won’t sell.

The second part of my approach is to get games out there, the starting point would be to get all of Nintendo’s franchises pulling their weight, Star Fox , Metroid and F-Zero are the obvious ones still MIA but Trauma Center is surely rife for a Wii U entry. Then it’s time to use the R&D teams to find out what kind of games people want to play and make them. Find ways to utilise the GamePad to deliver unique gaming experiences, and try and makes the experiences matter to people who don’t find ‘Nintendo magic’ a reason to buy a console.

This might sound overly simple but it seems to me that there are a lot of jaded gamers looking for something there not getting at the moment, and Nintendo may have no other option but to target this demographic.

Finally, pursue more companies like Platinum who have made games that gamers loved that have no or limited chance of a sequel and part fund them. People will buy a Wii U if it becomes the only place to buy games that are too big to be indie but too small to compete with the Call Of Duties and FIFAs of the world. Nintendo need to carve out a niche for them beyond the classic Nintendo line-up, if they can make the Wii U the secondary console that Xbone and PlayStation 4 owners need to have then that’s what they should do.

I’m imagining sequels (spiritual or direct) to Split/Second, BulletStorm, and Burning Rangers. It’s a dangerous tactic, focusing on games that didn’t set the charts alight, but it’s hardly a more risky proposition than doing more of the same.Ron-A-Tron (Nintendo ID)

Three years too late
Well, I probably won’t be the only person to say it this weekend, but I’ll probably be the best: Nintendo must expand their portfolio. It must have more depth and more breadth. Link and Mario just can’t sell consoles all by themselves any more – if they ever did in the first place. The SNES is not one of history’s most fondly remembered consoles for just two or three franchises. It was because it had the variety to cater more tastes than the family friendly market.

But training new talent, as was mentioned in last weekend’s insightful feature, is going to take time. But that’s not to say very talented developers aren’t already out there. Spend that money and entice some new blood onto your payroll. Buy Sega or Capcom or both. Hell, you could really push the boat out by making a bid for Square Enix. But why just stop with Eastern talent? Surely there are plenty of skilled developers here in the West, who have grown up with Nintendo’s titles. who would sell their families for a chance to work for the Big N. Give Cliffy B a call, if only to stop him whinging about used game sales hurting his already bloated bank account.

And, it goes without saying, that if I were CEO of Nintendo right now, Satoru Iwata would be fired. We can forget that his decision to get out of the graphical arms race was a massive gamble. Yes, it paid off , but clearly that move was short-sighted. As for a new console, my gut tells me that it’s too soon. Some will write in advocating that a new console be announced before year’s end but I feel that would be a mistake. I think we shouldn’t hear about new hardware until at least 2016 for a Christmas 2017 launch. Anything sooner is just a blatant middle finger to the customer base.

But, when you think about it, that is what the Wii was: a rude gesture towards everybody. Yes, Nintendo made some of the best games of this outgoing generation but that was about all you could play. Want to play a big, Western role-playing epic like Mass Effect or Skyrim? Tough. Want to play a fighting game that isn’t Smash Bros.? Cry me a river. Grand Theft Auto? What, Zelda isn’t good enough for you? What a selfish git you are. You want to play a shooter or anything even remotely violent and gory? Now you’re just being silly.

And that kind of attitude needed to be stamped out three years ago.DMR

Honesty is in the eye of the beholder
Let’s be honest, Nintendo haven’t released a truly great console since the Super Nintendo. People can beat the drum all day about N64 and GameCube being worthwhile because of the Nintendo exclusives but the bottom line is they would have been immensely more successful on PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The DS and Wii was a huge success because they were aimed at kids and older people who’ve never played games before and the whole Wii Fat fad.
Nintendo’s games would be so much better and more successful if they were multiformat and things like the GamePad released as a multiformat extra peripheral.

Look at Rayman Legends. If it stayed a Wii U exclusive it would’ve been a flop despite being brilliant and Ubisoft would have abandoned Rayman altogether.

If Nintendo go third party people won’t care that they only release a new game every couple of years and if they embrace downloadable content to extend their games and boost sales whilst also being relatively cheap to develop and fund future games it would be far more lucrative.

This is what I would do as Nintendo CEO.FF13ACE (PSN ID)

GC: Rayman Legends was a flop, and it sold the most on the Wii U.

Crazy business
Nintendo have been the market leader in portable gaming in like forever. But with the popularity in mobile phone gaming and screen sizes as large as handhelds surely it makes sense for Nintendo to release a mobile phone enabled portable device of its own, or at the very least in partnership with an existing phone manufacturer. This would give them a foothold in the mobile market, give them profits from hardware, encourage smaller developers to create mobile games and in the long term gives them the option of releasing their back catalogue on not just their own device, but potentially other manufacturer’s mobile devices which in turn will vastly increase the userbase they can sell their games to.

OK, so new hardware is on the way, let’s fix some of the other issues. Consumers who buy the Nintendo phone will want to download games to their new device, but they’re not going to want to lock the games they’ve purchased to one device, so let’s give everyone a unique online user/gamer ID and let them store the games they’ve purchased to that ID and not the device. With this done, let’s roll it out to all Nintendo hardware so users can play games across all compatible formats using the one ID.

Hopefully by now new hardware sales are soaring, which in turn will get new developers releasing more games and give consumers a huge catalogue to choose from and not waiting around for Nintendo to release first party games whenever they feel like it.

Back in the real world, even if it doesn’t make any common or financial sense, Nintendo will do what it does best… whatever it wants, whenever it wants, to whoever is willing to buy in to its (at times crazy) business philosophy.IamEvilHomer666 (PSN ID)

Turn the Valve
Nintendo are indeed in a pickle. I personally haven’t enjoyed their products since GoldenEye 007 and Super Mario 64! ZombiU looked promising but not enough to own a white elephant! They should go back to SNES and NES days with more third party exclusives like Ninja Gaiden, Contra, and Castlevania! If I was in their boots I’d join forces with Valve on the Steambox and count the royalties!Toby brown

A bridge too far
Nintendo have positioned themselves in a really awkward position and a lot of the problem comes down to how Nintendo burnt their third party bridges in the N64 era.

At present Nintendo home consoles sell because of the quality of their in-house exclusives:

1. Keep the quality of exclusives high and games take a long time to be released leaving the release schedules bare. The high quality in-house games also scares off many third parties as their games always perform badly.

2. Drop the quality of exclusives and the console does not sell at all. So third parties simply refuse to make games for the system.

The only software variable at Nintendo’s disposal does not help them. If they want to remain viable they need to acknowledge they need outside help and a better business team.

Currently Microsoft are very friendly with EA and have always had great relations with Activision. Sony seem to be courting Ubisoft but have also been working hard with Activision. Sony’s decision to design the PlayStation 4 for third party developers is also a huge stroke of genius.

Nintendo seem to have been completely outmanoeuvred with only Ubisoft of the big third party developers being that interested. Nintendo should have sealed up the Rayman exclusivity when they had the chance. Nintendo’s focus on unique input devices is great for their in-house ideas but is a real pain for third parties who just want to make a game that works on all formats with minimal optimisation required. Nintendo also need to sort out their online services.

The usual outcome of these discussions is that most gamers believe Nintendo should make a cutting edge, competitive console that is easy to develop for. The thing is they tried this previously with the GameCube, which was their biggest home console failure prior to the Wii U. This is essentially what Nintendo fans want but does not actually make sense for Nintendo as there are business factors they are neglecting.

What the Wii U needs is a number of huge third party exclusives. Given they have managed to get Monster Hunter 4 on 3DS maybe Nintendo should push this Capcom relationship further and get exclusivity rights to Street Fighter? They could even take the Microsoft approach and buy Capcom but I think their money would be better spent elsewhere.

Platinum Games are clearly a great talent but they seem incapable of creating an iconic game and not just a really good one. They also need help in making their games more accessible which is the very thing Nintendo excel at. Platinum seem like such a good fit for Nintendo that it seems strange that they are not already at least a second party developer. Their lack of an iconic game however means they are not the solution on their own.

Even if Nintendo did buy Capcom and Platinum they would need at least one more major exclusive franchise. Dragon Quest and Kingdom Hearts are good fits for Nintendo but I think they should aim higher and more importantly outside their comfort zone.

Nintendo should have fought for Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid and Grand Theft Auto. The fact that Nintendo has allowed the mainline games (discounting remakes) to be absent from their consoles was a huge, huge mistake. At the very least they should be trying to get versions of the next games on Wii U but they really need one to be exclusive. Microsoft recognised this and poured huge amounts of money to try and prise them away from Sony. This must have cost Microsoft dearly in previous financial years but was a very good move in future planning, something Nintendo clearly lacked. In fact Nintendo should make sure there are no Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 3rdparty games that are not released on Wii U.

I honest think Nintendo need to make a clear message that they are not just a child friendly company. To do this I think they should do something completely out of character. They should buy Rockstar. On the face of it that seems silly but the two companies have very similar approaches to making games and focus on quality and not schedules.

My Nintendo targets for 2014 would therefore be (in order of importance):

1. Carry on as if nothing is wrong.
2. Make no third party deals.
3. Release a Pikmin 3 demo for iOS.
4. Announce a new Zelda and a remake of Super Mario Sunshine.
5. Start developing their next gen portable that can be connected to the TV and is on par with and can share downloaded games with the Wii U. (Essentially a more powerful PS Vita but made on a budget).
6. Maybe get a second party deal with Platinum.